At this time of year, many of us are travelling to celebrate the season with family and friends. Even if we are only travelling short distances, we are all subject to the same challenging conditions in the airport and on the plane - surrounded by lots of people who are also under a lot of stress, in an environment with recycled air and as dry as a desert! The key aspects to keep in mind for helping yourself survive and thrive through this stressful holiday season are: nourish your nervous and immune systems, keep yourself grounded, keep digestion happy, and stay hydrated! In my previous career I travelled frequently for work, so I know the toll travelling can take on the body and mind. Let’s talk a bit more about how to approach staying healthy using simple strategies and herbal allies:

· Flying at high altitudes over vast distances is an unusual place for the human organism to be! Your nervous systemneeds extra support to weather the rigors of travel (let alone the added demands over the holidays!). In Ayurveda, flying is a very high-Vata environment (cold, dry, up in the ether, exposed, quite a scary place to be!). In herbal medicine, we have plants that are incredibly helpful in supporting nervous system health, called nervines and adaptogens. (Note: it cannot be underemphasized that working with a knowledgeable Herbalist is key to finding the best nervines and adaptogens for your unique person!) The nervines and adaptogens I’ve chosen for the formulas below were chosen for broad applicability and usefulness for most bodies… but keep in mind that you are unique and will benefit greatly from discussing custom herbal formulas with a qualified Herbalist! I’ve included contra-indications for each herb, and while these herbs are broadly helpful, consider a consultation for custom herbs choices to suit your particular needs (such as if you have more flying anxiety, high blood pressure, are pregnant, prone to blood clots, are taking dose-sensitive medications, etc.). Now to the herbs! I chose Siberian Ginseng (Eleutherococcus senticosis) as the adaptogen in the formula below to help adjust to new timezones (aka to combat Jet Lag!) and rally your immune resources. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), Borage (Borago officinalis), Chamomile (Matricaria recutita), Rose (Rosa spp.), Lavender (Lavandula off.), and Milky Oats (Avena sativa) are the nervines in the formulas below.

· Keep grounded and nourished by eating an easy-to-digest and mineral-rich meal before flying (such as a light bone-broth vegetable soup, soaked steel-cut oats with coconut manna and cinnamon, a light coconut curry with brown basmati rice, etc.), using a warming bitters tincture, and massaging your feet (with warm sesame oil for added benefit). Keep your digestion happy by not over-indulging in heavy or complex meals before flying, and travel with a bitters formula to help your digestion when to going gets tough (yes, I’m talking about travel constipation, which is quite common!).

· Keep hydrated by drinking more water than usual, at least 2.5L but preferably more, on the days leading up to and during your travel. This will help keep your digestion moving smoothly and your mucous membranes healthy. You can also consider adding in natural electrolytes and/or healthy oils into your diet leading up to your travel. Avoid alcohol and coffee while you travel. Consider drinking the calming tea suggested below to aid in staying hydrated. Explore Abhyanga (self oil massage) and/or Nasya, or simply ensure that your skin is hydrated before travelling.

· Mucous membrane barrier integrity is vital to help keep you healthy and free of infection while you travel. Your mucous membranes includes your sinuses as well as your digestive tract. To keep your barriers intact, avoid any known food sensitivities leading up to travel, stay hydrated, and consider including some herbal mucous membrane tonics. In the tincture discussed in the video and in the description below, I’ve included Ground Ivy (Glechoma hederacea) and Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) to aid in this regard.

· Support your liver to aid in proper elimination and support the many other vital functions your liver provides! Oftentimes during travel digestion slows to a stop because we are sitting still for an extended period of time… including herbs to help encourage the flow of bile and keep the rhythm of digestion, plus carminatives to help relieve the gas that can accompany the changing pressures in the environment can go a long way to helping keep you comfortable and smiling through your travels. I chose Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), Dandelion (Taraxacum off.), Chamomile (Matricaria recutita) and Lavender (Lavandula off.).

· Support for circulation, and the vascular/capillary system can also be important to help prevent blood clots in the lower legs (deep vein thrombosis), especially on long-haul flights. I chose Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) as the key herb due to the added headache relief and liver support (isn’t it phenomenal how herbs can do SO many things?!). Keep the blood moving by tapping your feet and wiggling your toes, and walking up and down the aisles on the plane every 2-3 hours. You can also incorporate ‘legs up the wall’ in the airport or when you arrive at your destination to help ease the return of blood from your legs to your torso. (Please note that if you do feel a dull ache in your low legs that does not resolve, please seek medical attention without delay).

In general, keep yourself cosy and happy while you fly. Bring a scarf, a warm extra layer, earphones, a great book you’re excited to read and are saving for the plane, and a great calming playlist or guided meditation recording with you on the plane. Wrap the scarf around your neck to feel less exposed and warm, and over your eyes when you want to sleep. Make your own space when you need to, and listen to your calming playlist or read a book you’re excited to dive into. If you are interested in beginning or maintaining a meditation practice, flying can be a wonderful time to turn toward your internal environment: you can use a guided meditation or try a breath count technique (such as counting backward from 30, each inhale an even number and each exhale an odd number… whenever you lose count, start over). In general, notice how you’re breathing and try to introduce fuller inhales and exhales as much as possible. Use your extra layer or the airplane blanket rolled up behind your lumbar spine to help relieve back pain. To further combat jet lag when you land, stay awake until the bedtime in your new timezone and follow all of your usual sleep hygiene techniques. Using a skillfully selected adaptogen will also greatly help with relieving jet lag. Again, for a more personalized and in-depth consultation to design a protocol for your unique person and situation, please contact me or a trusted local Herbalist for an in-depth consultation (I can also provide distance consultations).

My friend Simon Brazier (The Health Renegade) and I put together an informative video about how to travel well during the holidays. Watch the full video for more great info!

For Simon Brazier I created the following formulas to help him thrive during his upcoming holiday travels:

All of our practices together are undertaken as uninvited visitors of the Lekwungen and W_SÁNEC peoples, and within their sacred lands. I endeavour to offer these practices and come to these lands in a good way. I am committed to deepening my understanding of the innumerable injustices, past and ongoing, and am committed to working within right livelihood as a contribution to finding healing ways forward, together. I am committed to and work in service of healing within community, with a foundational understanding that our healing is never separate from land, peoples, animals, and all beings, and is not separate from an understanding of the spirit woven through and within all. Neither our suffering nor our healing paths are separate from one another, and yet they still remain distinct, deeply valued and respected. I am committed to the work of acknowledging and deepening my understanding through listening, and am also committed to providing pathways for others to deepen their understanding of this vital healing work we must do together. We must begin by acknowledging that many of our herbal medicine and yoga practices have been appropriated from cultures and peoples who have practiced them since time immemorial. As an uninvited visitor of some unknown and some eastern European ancestry, I know that my ancestors were refugees and yet were also unknowingly complicit in colonial violences by settling on the lands of Anishinaabe peoples, which is also where I was raised. I ask for the opportunity to bow together with deep reverence to our ancestors for their gifts, and with deepest respect for the ongoing, intersectional and disproportionate impacts of colonialism on all of our lives. I am committed to dismantling these systems, within society and within myself. May we find ways to heal, to together celebrate our diversity and to dismantle the legacies of colonialism and colonial thought. My work is in service of this healing path, in finding a way forward first by acknowledging and doing my own work in understanding how Western herbalism and Westernized yoga has been appropriated. I am committed to working to support the work of, and lift the voices of, Indigenous peoples from all lands and traditions. I am committed to continuing to challenge a status quo that profits from inequality and invisiblizes injustices. May we build resilient systems that celebrate diversity. May we build an inclusive (non-binary!) future, together. I hold the understanding that some medicinal plants and agricultural practices were also uninvited settlers on these lands and continue to have major impacts, that the Indigenous knowledges of herbal medicine and healing ways still remain unacknowledged, that there are many ongoing injustices related to access to healing practices and the valuation of different ways of knowing. In good faith, I hold these understandings (and all those I’ve yet to understand) in all of my interactions and engagements with this land, its people, plants, and animals. May our work together be in service of whole system healing, in service of true holistic healing. I am blessed to be an uninvited visitor on these lands, and blessed by the responsibility to contribute to our collective healing.